Strawberry Raspberry White Chocolate "Ombré" Cupcakes

Pink is always such an under-credited color. How many people do you know who say that pink is their favorite color? There is a stigma around it being a girly color, so all the feminists in the world (so like very girl ever) don't like saying it's their favorite color. And honestly, it's not the most versatile color and can't be used year round or worn everyday, etc.

But you simply cannot deny that it is an incredibly pretty color.

Dark Chocolate Avocado Brownies with Peanut Butter Greek Yogurt Frosting

Hear me out. Don't close your browser. I promise these are worth your time. I mean I hope you can trust my brownie judgement, I am a brownie connoisseur. Should I remind you of the PB&J Pretzel Swirl Brownies? Or those Mound Bar Brownies I made? And remember how good Peppermint Hot Chocolate Brownies were? And how mouth-watering-ly good those Marzipan Brownies were?

Do you really think I would lead you astray? I am insulted. Unless you're still reading and are ready to believe what I tell you, no matter how strange. In which case, I am flattered.

Gingerbread House Cake

How soon after Christmas do you take your Christmas decorations down? Are you ready to toss the tree to the curb on Boxing Day, or are you one of those people that leaves it up until Spring Break? In our family, we're somewhere in between. We leave our decorations up through New Year's, but they're usually taken down and boxed up before we go back to school. We love ourselves some Christmas spirit...but we recognize that there are certain limits. Which you might find hard to believe, considering that we are posting a gingerbread house recipe on January 11th.

Fair point.

Chrimbo Cupcakes

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You may be wondering why this post is called "Chrimbo Cupcakes." Apparently British people say "Happy Crimbo" instead of "Merry Christmas." I got this information from Molly, so I'm going to trust it, since she studied abroad in London for five months, but I'm still skeptical.

But these cupcakes truly are Christmas cupcakes. Chocolate and peppermint. Red, green, and white, and oh-so-festive looking:

"Essence of Autumn" Chocolate Layer Cake

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(This is a dual post: Audrey's writing is on the left, Molly's is on the right in italics.)

My dad's birthday cake is always one of my favorites. Don't get me wrong, I love all birthday cakes, but my dad's almost always involves fall flavors like pumpkin or cinnamon. And I mean come on, you can't go wrong with pumpkin or cinnamon.

This year, my dad requested chocolate in his cake. I didn't argue. But I didn't know if that meant he didn't want pumpkin or cinnamon or what. I had no ideas. *Enter Molly* Molly came up with the brilliant idea behind this cake, and I executed it.

This cake was my brainchild, and Audrey's labor of love. If you ask me, it's fitting that a father's cake be executed by both of his baker daughters. It's kind of like a joint gift from us to him, like one of those homemade gifts you would make when you were little before you could afford to actually buy people stuff. Only better, because it's a culinary homemade gift...and not in the way that uncooked macaroni art is a culinary homemade gift. But like, in an actually tasty way. Like, crazy tasty. Like, you're welcome, dad. And world. (We're nothing if not humble.)

Brownie Doctor: Marzipan Brownies

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Do you like marzipan? I take it for granted that everybody loves marzipan because to me it's inconceivable that you wouldn't love marzipan. But apparently marzipan is less of a universal taste than I thought. My own mother is aggressively lukewarm on the stuff. I must have gotten my taste for it through my dad - his 100% German blood makes me well over 50% German myself, and the Germans are nothing if not gaga for marzipan (and beer, and meat, and bread; a balanced diet it is not).

But if you're in touch with your inner German and you do like marzipan, this is definitely the recipe for you. Marzipan is often a subtle presence in desserts, but there is nothing shy about marzipan in these brownies. This is in your face marzipan. 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes

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The story behind these is simple: I was in the mood for Reese's (nothing new), and saw these on FoodGawker, and whenever I thought about baking, my mind kept wandering back to them. When you're in the mood for cupcakes and Reese's, (I can't imagine when you wouldn't be...) these are perfect.

Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes

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Recently, my mom had to go to a business meeting and needed to bring refreshments, preferably of the sweet variety. I, of course, was commissioned to make these for her. My mind immediately started coming up with lavish ideas, but all of these were ruined when I learned that one of the people attending this meeting needed them to be gluten free. No, they did not have an allergy they decided to go gluten free for a couple of months to see how it would work as a diet or whatever. I do not under stand this- why would you willingly not eat gluten? No bread? No cupcakeS? No brownies? No cookies? No croissants? I would not be able to do it.

Chocolate Cake. Chocolate Buttercream. Blueberry Ganache.

So, it was my dad's 50th birthday on Saturday! Woo hoo! And even though he got a cake last week, I baked him another one for his actual birthday. That's just how we do things in the our family. One birthday? Psh! You need two cakes! So in contrast to his complicated, extremely decadent and delicious pumpkin pie cake last week, I made him a simple, but effective, chocolate cake with a blueberry ganache filling.